Keeping the Momentum Going for the World Cup

The last two days have been a bit frustrating for the fact that we wanted to catch a big one or two but we would rather save it for the 4th. Yesterday, Thursday, we went out feeling pretty good after having a great trip with Tracy and his dad only to see one lazy blue that wasn't interested enough to eat the long rigger. All she did was get us all pumped up for the big let down and that was the only looker we had all day. There were another dozen fish seen by the fleet and a few nice ones caught but none for us. Needless to say i was worried.

I started feeling vibrations and thinking plenty of bad thoughts, of course for no real reason, but i just wanted to stay on a roll as every fisherman wants, so we got out there today with high hopes again and the wind had decided to wrap around the end of the island and make the spot we've fished for the last week unreachable for the swell and chop. Now i felt all out of sorts trying to decide where to go. We wandered around in many productive areas to no avail and having heard of only a bite or two things were looking bleak. So on our last tack out to the 1000 fathom line, you can guess where this is going, my crew saw what they believed to be a marlin swimming across the spread but not looking at any lures. Just then a nice sized blue popped up on the Medium Polukai Tube and gave it a try. After missing that bait she tried the Medium Polukai Instigator on the other side and again another miss. Usually the third time is a charm but upon trying the Medium Marlin Magic Ruckus on the stinger, pulling off 50 yds of line, and coming off, our hopes were dashed. I kept the boat straight ahead and still having the long riggers in place, another blue just a bit smaller than the first piled on the Medium Instigator on the left rigger and came down tight. I turned and chased her down to get the line back on the reel and after getting all lines cleared, I backed on the fish with all i had to get the leader to a waiting Tracy Epstein.

The fish never jumped until he grabbed the leader and on each successive pull the fish lunged away in a full jump as you would picture a black marlin doing. We got the leader 4 different times and each time Jessica was firing away with the still cam to document it all. Finally with Tracy's skillful wiring we got the fish alongside and made a clean release with the 550 lb fish still shaking its head as we released the snooter from her bill. So, after feeling like last year's backlash the day before we were feeling quite good and happy to roll into saturday on somewhat of a run. Glad to have a good report for you and i hope we can keep em coming.

Capt Jonboy